RACIAL DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE MEETS WITH EXPERTS ON PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND ADEQUATE HOUSING

17 August 2004


The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today met with the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Juan Mendez, and the Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari.

Juan Mendez, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, said it was the elimination of racial discrimination, among other things, that would lead to the prevention of genocide. He said that in carrying out his duties, he would be focusing on areas where conflicts of an ethnic, racial or religious dimension were occurring and which were carried out in breach of rules on the protection of civil society.

Agha Shahi, the Committee Expert who initiated the discussion with the Special Adviser, recalled that the appointment of Mr. Mendez was part of the Action Plan unfolded by the Secretary-General on the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide in order to meet the need for a mechanism to address the root causes of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing. Mr. Shahi said it was time for an international debate on the theme of the prevention of genocide to be initiated by the human rights treaty bodies as an expression of the obligation the international community had to prevent genocide.

Several Committee Experts referred to the emerging situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan and the recent atrocities committed in Burundi and said it was essential to work on the basis of what was happening on the ground and to respond accordingly in situations where there was reliable evidence that genocide was occurring.

The meeting with Mr. Mendez was held in light of the thematic debate on the subject of the prevention of genocide which is scheduled to take place at the Committee’s next session in March 2005.

Miloon Kothari, the Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said the four main areas his work focused on involved investigation, monitoring and reporting, global advocacy, and collaboration. He discussed the problems faced by women, indigenous people, and inhabitants of urban and rural areas in securing their right to adequate housing. He also noted that 600 million persons in urban areas and 1 billion persons in rural areas lived in overcrowded and inadequate housing. There were 100 million homeless in the world. As always, women and children were the most affected.

In the discussion that followed, an Expert noted that the issue of housing and indigenous peoples was a complex one which had to be studied closely. One Expert said that if the Special Rapporteur could help the Committee to prepare model questions which the Committee could raise during the examination of reports of States parties, that would be very useful. Another Expert said the Committee needed to concentrate more on discrimination in housing.

The Committee will conclude its work on Friday, 20 August by issuing its final observations and recommendations on the country reports which it has examined this session.

Discussion with Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

JUAN MENDEZ, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, said that since he had been appointed to his post, he had had very profitable discussions that were extremely helpful to determine his course of action to carry out his tasks. The post of Special Adviser came about as a result of the Security Council resolution of 2001 where Council members specifically requested the Secretary-General to keep it informed of situations that might evolve into genocide and to employ early warning measures to prevent such actions, as well as in reaction to a number of other initiatives as well. The mandate of the Special Adviser was an “overwhelming task that should not lie on the shoulders of one individual”, Mr. Mendez remarked, while expressing his hope that others would engage themselves in this important effort.

Mr. Mendez recalled the inability of the international community to prevent the genocides that occurred in Rwanda and later in Srebrenica, despite the United Nations’ presence there. While noting that his mandate was not to judge situations, the Special Adviser said his terms of reference must be guided by the internationally accepted definition of genocide and the duty to detect early warning signs that might lead to genocide. To that aim he was focusing on areas where conflicts of an ethnic, racial or religious dimension were occurring and which were carried out in breach of rules on the protection of civil society. However, priority was also being devoted to areas where extra judicial executions were taking place.

The Special Adviser expressed his wish to work closely with the Committee as key to his success due to the nature of the work carried out by the Committee; it was the elimination of racial discrimination that would lead to the prevention of genocide. It was necessary to ascertain the information obtained in real time from a variety of sources to ensure that information was gathered in a way that allowed the identification of a trend. Among the possible sources of information were the Secretary-General’s good offices, national human rights commissions, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination itself.

In conclusion, Mr. Mendez said he was meeting with the Committee Experts to ask for their advice and to seek information from them in order for him to organize his tasks at the early stages of his mandate.

Discussion

AGHA SHAHI, Committee Expert, recalled that the appointment of the Special Adviser was part of the Action Plan unfolded by the Secretary-General on the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide. The Secretary-General’s initiative met “the need for a mechanism to act independently and impartially to warn of, or offer services, to address the root causes of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing”. The Rwanda genocide stood out as the most horrific example of the failure of the United Nations system to heed and correctly evaluate early warning of the planned execution of the Tutsi minority. Through its early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee had on a number of occasions acted to alert the United Nations Security Council to the cases of systematic violations of human rights turning into threats of genocide. Among other actions taken was the Committee’s urging of the Security Council to rapidly deploy a United Nations force to Rwanda in reversal of the Council’s earlier decision to pull out of UNAMIR (United Nations Mission in Rwanda).

Mr. Shahi also welcomed the Secretary-General’s suggestion in his address to the Stockholm International Forum on Genocide in January 2004 for the establishment of a committee on the prevention of genocide by the State parties to the Genocide Convention, to review periodic reports and make recommendations for prosecution of acts of genocide. Also noted was the Secretary-General’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2003 where he announced a panel of eminent persons to focus on current challenges to peace and security, including the best ways to respond collectively to threats of genocide or other comparable massive violations of human rights. In his Action Plan, Mr. Shahi said, the Secretary-General emphasized the need for swift and decisive action including military action in extreme cases to halt genocide. It was here where treaty bodies, special rapporteurs, experts, and civil society groups should be well placed to sound the alarm, he said.

In closing, Mr. Shahi said it was time for an international debate on the theme of the prevention of genocide to be initiated by the human rights treaty bodies as an expression of the obligation the international community had to prevent genocide. It was fitting that the Committee inaugurate such a debate to mobilize world opinion, in particular civil society, to prevent and suppress genocide.

While noting the close relationship between the Committee and the Special Adviser’s Office, several Committee Experts expressed their commitment to work closely with the Special Adviser to help him carry out his functions. Several Experts referred to the emerging situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan and the recent atrocities committed in Burundi and said it was essential to work on the basis of what was happening on the ground and to respond accordingly in situations where there was reliable evidence that genocide was occurring.

Discussion with Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing

MILOON KOTHARI, the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, said he was appointed Special Rapporteur by the Commission on Human Rights in September 2000 to look at issues related to land access to civic services, water and sanitation, forced displacement, women’s rights, land inheritance and housing. The right to housing was a broad right that went far beyond four walls and a roof.

The Special Rapporteur outlined the four main areas of work he had been focusing on: investigation, monitoring and reporting, global advocacy, and collaboration. In his investigative capacity, he had conducted country missions to look at the situations with regard to his mandate in depth and also to communicate with States on their related policies.

In his capacity of monitoring and reporting, the Special Rapporteur had been reporting annually to the Commission on Human Rights; the report in 2002 focused on globalization and attempted to provide a preliminary guideline to States on housing and discrimination. In 2004, the report focused on forced displacement and eviction; next year the report would focus on the growing phenomenon of homelessness.

In the capacity of global advocacy, he had been attending global conferences to focus on housing and discrimination and to urge governments to recognize the problems and to ensure that the right to housing was incorporated in national legislations .

The last part of his mandate was collaboration. To that end he had been interacting regularly with treaty bodies. He thanked the Committee for bringing up the provision of adequate housing in several of its recommendations and general comments.

Among other things, the Commission on Human Rights had asked him to focus on women and in that connection to look at cases of multiple discrimination, Mr. Kothari said. In his work, the Special Rapporteur said, he had identified themes where discrimination in housing was carried out. Urbanization was a growing problem which led to communities being segregated. The situation of people in rural areas was also a problem largely as a result of urban bias for those living in these areas.

Forced evictions was also an area of concern affecting mostly indigenous people and minorities. Often violence accompanied forced evictions, Mr. Kothari added. Another area of concern was globalization.

Discussion

One Expert asked Mr. Kothari what the right to housing entailed. He noted that in most areas which were vulnerable to natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, it was the most vulnerable persons who were affected because they lived in weak shelters. He also said that national legislation concerning housing and construction standards was an important issue, but political will to implement this legislation was even more important.

Another Expert noted that the issue of housing and indigenous peoples was a complex one. There was massive displacement of indigenous peoples in the Americas and their living conditions were almost zero. In Guatemala for example, indigenous peoples built houses near fissures of volcanoes which were dangerous areas. The issue of housing and indigenous peoples had to be studied closely.

One Expert said that if the Special Rapporteur could help the Committee to prepare model questions which the Committee could raise during the examination of reports of States parties, that would be very useful. Another Expert said the Committee needed to concentrate more on discrimination in housing. He said that if a person did not enjoy the right to housing, he or she could hardly enjoy the right to education or health care or other rights. He asked if the Special Rapporteur could tell the Committee what was the extent of homelessness around the world.

An Expert said that the issue of housing in the Russian Federation had become a serious issue, especially with the market economy. And some of the ethnic groups were among the poorest persons who were most affected by this problem.

In response to the comments, Mr. Kothari said that 600 million persons in urban areas and 1 billion persons in rural areas lived in overcrowded and inadequate housing. There were 100 million homeless in the world. As always, women and children were the most affected. The world was facing a large problem with housing which had been neglected by the international community. He suggested that the Committee could consider drafting a General Recommendation on housing and discrimination. Such an instrument would be extremely useful for States.

Mr. Kothari said the detailing and implementation of national housing standards was a very important issue. Also, he would prepare model questions in cooperation with the secretariat which the Committee could use.

In conclusion, the Chairperson of the Committee said that this was the second time that the Committee and the Special Rapporteur had discussed overlapping areas of competence. What needed to be defined was appropriate methodology to work with. He suggested that the Committee prepare a memo on the points discussed to see how mutual cooperation could be carried out on the points that had been raised.